According to Phil Hay, Junior Firpo was “visibly angry” after being substituted by Daniel Farke in Leeds United’s match against Leicester City on Friday (23 February).
The Athletic journalist tweeted after the 3-1 win over the Foxes that the Dominican left-back hurled a water bottle to express his unhappiness, but the Whites manager said he apologised immediately after, therefore there was no problem.
The German stated that as a manager, you must “make decisions” and that he is not at Elland Road to “win the Nobel Peace Prize,” despite his side recovering from behind to claim three points after replacing the 27-year-old.
Junior Firpo’s substitution worked wonders for Leeds United.
Farke made an excellent substitution, taking Firpo off and replacing him with Burnley loanee Connor Roberts, who scored the equaliser inside seven minutes of coming on.
With the right-back’s entrance on the pitch, Archie Gray moved to left-back in lieu of the Dominican, and it was his deflected shot that set up Leeds’ second goal.
While Firpo may have been disappointed to come off, which could have been due to his team being behind, he can’t complain that it was the wrong move given how the game turned out.
It doesn’t mean the Whites are a superior team without him; it simply means that in that situation, and given how the game was going, the other two fullbacks could offer something different to him.
following apologising to Farke, it appears like the matter has been forgotten, and everyone can now move on following yet another very successful night at Elland Road.
